The birth of a baby sloth: what a lovely surprise!
Late on Thursday 1 May, the animal keeper responsible for feeding the two-toed sloths – the female, Whoopi, and the male, Manni – noticed that there were more of them than usual. When the female came down from her tree to eat, the keeper saw that a baby was clinging to her! It was a lovely surprise, as the team hadn’t realised that Whoopi was pregnant.
11-month gestation period for this species
For this species, the gestation period is around 11 months. When the young are born, they are 25 cm long and weigh 340 g. They cling to their mother’s belly for 5 weeks, until they are strong enough to move around on their own. The young are usually weaned at around 5 months of age.
A very curious and already rather greedy little one!
The baby sloth, born on 1 May, has not yet been weighed or sexed. It is being closely monitored by the keepers, who are keeping interactions to a minimum so as not to stress the female. The little sloth is doing a jolly good job! It is suckling very well from its mother. It’s very curious and is already starting to touch and even taste the food given to the adults. Its diet consists mainly of foliage, fresh young shoots of hazel, hornbeam and willow, as well as cooked vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot) and a few pieces of fruit.
Sponsor the sloths and protect biodiversity with Beauval Nature
Sloths are among the many animals you can choose to sponsor at ZooParc de Beauval. This is a powerful way to help protect biodiversity, as your sponsorship fee is a donation that goes entirely to the Beauval Nature charity.
